How To Choose The Right Glass For Booze

A good drink is best enjoyed in a glass that maximizes its taste, smell, and appearance. A food critic in Atlanta slammed cocktails served in Mason jars recently, saying enough with that trend. For those who have forgotten how to drink out of anything else — totally understandable — here’s a quick guide.

2. Highball Glass

WHEN TO USE IT
This glass is used for various mixed drinks and highball cocktails (highballs are traditionally just club soda + any spirit, but over the years the definition has loosened. There’s usually more mixer than the alcohol).

4. Martini Glass

Also called a cocktail glass, the martini glass is used basically as a matter of style or preference. It has a long base so your hand doesn’t affect the temperature of the drink, and it has a wide brim to release aroma.

9. Absinthe Glass

10. Snifter

A snifter is generally used for brandy or whiskey. The large bottom allows for someone to warm the glass with their hand and also for faster evaporation. The tapered top traps the aroma. You should fill the glass just enough so that if you were to tip it on its side no liquid would spill out.

12. Champagne Coupe

You might recognize these glasses from the awesomeness that is a champagne tower, wherein bubbly is poured into the top glass until it trickles down into all the others. Unfortunately, the broad lip of a coupe glass allows the champagne to lose carbonation more quickly than a flute glass — so they are more often used for cocktails. Martini glasses and coupes are interchangeable for cocktails; it’s all about style.

21. Weizen Glass

The weizen glass is roughly a little larger than a pint. The glass starts out skinny and grows wider to the top in order to trap yeast at the bottom while leaving room for a thick head of foam at the top.